Energy Security

I realised that I’ve talked a lot about energy security in my previous blogs and never properly discussed the meaning of it or its importance to the topic of fracking, so here's a short explanation. 

Energy security is defined by the International Energy Agency as the uninterrupted physical availability of energy at a price which is affordable, while respecting environmental concerns (IEA, 2010). This can be long-term based on economic and sustainable development or short-term based on supply and demand and reactions to sudden changes in energy policy. Ways in which energy security can be achieved varies between countries depending on domestic resources and economic status.  To put it in simple terms see the diagram below, that is all energy security is.

Source. 

Energy security is very important in regards to fracking.  In the UK the availability of shale gas will allow us to stop importing gas from Russia giving us more energy independence and even give us export opportunities, both of which will dramatically increase the countries energy security.

To see what the UK government is doing about energy security please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/uk-energy-security  

The Good Side of Fracking

Contrary to popular belief it is not true that everything to do with our energy consumption is harmful to the environment. Although it is not possible right now to have a completely green economy there are still methods that are better than others. Fracking can therefore be considered a gateway resource to a lower carbon economy and increased energy security for the future.

Here are some advantages to choosing fracking in the UK:

• Fracking is one of the cheapest forms of energy.  It has the potential to significantly bring down energy prices as it is 1/5 the price of oil and 1/3 the price of solar power. This will not only benefit the consumer but will also have a positive effect on the economy.

Cost of different types of energy. Source. 

• Using shale gas as an energy source will help significantly reduce carbon emissions as well as other greenhouse gases (Royal Academy ofEngineering, 2012), this will create a bridge to a lower carbon society based on renewable resources such as solar and wind power.  However, variety of energy sources could still reduce CO₂ emissions, it doesn’t have to be all renewable as long as it is not all oil. Fracking is a valuable part of the energy mix.
• It will create thousands of local jobs. The government has estimated that the fracking industry could create over 64,000 jobs in the UK. 
• It will increase energy security (EERA, 2013) by making the UK more independent, our vast resource of natural gas will dramatically reduce dependency on foreign oil especially from Russia.
• It is considered a solution to peak oil.

For more information on the pros and cons of fracking please read this paper by Jackson et al. (2014) which outlines all the environmental costs and benefits of fracking for shale gas.  

Gasland

Gasland is an American documentary by Josh Fox made in 2010. It explores the impacts of fracking, particularly the effects of water contamination, when little was known or reported about it. The film has shaped public discourse on the topic and led to many anti-fracking movements.

Flammable Tap Water

Fracking impacts on freshwater use and contamination are one of its biggest disadvantages as an energy source.

1-8 million gallons of water is needed to frack a single well which puts extreme pressures on limited fresh water resources. The US is currently using 72 trillion gallons of water to frack its 500,000 active wells. This is particularly a problem right now in California where there is already a severe drought, the worst in over 500 years. Drilling for both natural gas and oil is thought to be increasing risks of earthquakes and water shortage in an area where these concerns are already prominent. 

There is also the issue of water contamination from fracking fluid. 6 US states have reported more than 1000 incidents of contamination from fracking and the leakage of methane into groundwater. Methane levels have been found to be 17 times higher in drinking water wells close to fracking sites compared to normal wells. It has also been found that up to 52% of the chemicals found in fracking fluid have the potential to cause serious sensory, neurological and respiratory health problems. In many areas this has made tap water undrinkable and there have even been reports of people being able to set their kitchen tap water alight due to gas contamination.  But not only do the chemicals used pollute ground and drinking water, around half of them are left in the ground indefinitely, only 10-25% is recovered and returns to the surface as concentrated brine (Loh et al., 2015). 

This website shows clearly the full process of how fracking for natural gas works and how it can lead to dangerous groundwater contamination: http://www.dangersoffracking.com/

So clearly there are a lot of problems with fracking as a new source of energy but can these impacts be controlled in the future? Mitigation policies will be discussed in my next few blogs along with advantages of fracking and public opinions. 

Impacts of Fracking

• Firstly, fracking sites can cause noise and dust pollution as well as traffic congestion which will greatly impact people living in the surrounding areas. This is particularly a problem in regions with high population densities such as Europe.
• Massive impacts on the natural environment from infrastructure development and fragmentation of the landscape causing ecological impacts. For example, of the 575 national wildlife refuges in the US 105 contain a total of 4406 oil and gas wells (Burton et al., 2014). 
• Although emissions are lower than coal and oil, greenhouse gases ARE EMITTED during extraction from drilling, fracturing and well completions. It is not clean energy and is highly pollutive. Shale gas is predominantly made up of methane which is a around 85 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide making it the most significant driver of climate change (Vinciguerra et al., 2015) making it potentially a more harmful source of energy at a time when we should be moving away from fossil fuels. 
• Fracking is not always economically viable to extract depending on how deep the shale gas is below the surface. 
• Natural gas is a non-renewable resource meaning it cannot be considered a long-term solution to the energy crisis. As seen in the diagram below natural gas production is expected to peak around 2025 before production will start to rapidly decline up to 8% per year until 2050.
  
   Global Natural Gas Production, 1965 to 2100 Source 
• Fracking has been known to induce seismicity as hydraulic injection can cause existing faults to be re-activated. It causes earthquakes. These induced earthquakes tend to hit a lot closer to the surface (around 2-3 miles deep) than natural quakes meaning potential damage on the surface can be a lot higher even if the magnitude is relatively low. 

QUICK CASE STUDY – one of the UK’s main fracking sites near Blackpool experienced a 2.3 magnitude earthquake in 2011 due to fluid loss into a permeable fault causing operations to be suspended for 2 months.

In my next blog I will continue looking at the impacts of fracking, particularly on freshwater use and contamination. 

What Is Fracking?

Fracking (or hydraulic fracturing) is the extraction of natural gas from within thin layers of shale in the earth’s crust. Here’s how it works:

•        Fracking fluid, made up of water, sand and over 600 chemicals, is injected at high pressures into a well around 3000m below the surface – depth is location dependent.
•        The pressurised mixture causes natural fissures and layers in the rock to crack.
•        Sand particles then hold these fissures open allowing natural gas to travel up to the surface.
•        Once extracted it is separated into dry gas for power generation/industrial uses and natural gas liquids for chemical feedstocks.
•       The fracking fluid is recovered and taken for reprocessing to be used again.

Cross section of a typical fracking sight. Source

Although fracking has only dominated headlines in the past couple of year’s techniques have been developing since the early 1900s. Fracking has grown in popularity recently due to the depletion of global oil and coal reserves. The graph below shows how we have moved from one resource to another as soon as it is depleted. Could natural gas be our new main energy source to replace oil?

The four eras of energy. Source

I found a very clear timeline of the history of fracking in the USA on Quora which gives details of how the process has evolved since first being established in Pennsylvania over 80 years ago. However, in the UK fracking is a lot newer and its potential as a new energy source is still be questioned. Fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal are the largest sources of energy in the EU and are predicted to dominate the European energy mix until at least 2030 (EERA, 2013).

We Need To Talk About Fracking

Many people may only have started hearing about fracking or hydraulic fracturing within the last year or two, especially in the USA. Some may still not even know what it is or pay any attention, it’s just another governmental debate about energy. But everyone will be aware of the energy crisis. And it is not possible to talk about the energy crisis without relating it to climate change.

In the past 150 years an exponential growth in population has caused the overuse of fossil fuels to satisfy the ever-growing energy demand leading to the depletion of non-renewable resources and significant amounts of pollution – the energy crisis. This is shown in the graph below by Paul Chefurka. Oil, gas and coal will inevitably reach peak extraction before sources start to rapidly decline. Therefore, the government is looking for new energy sources that are able to support the population at the same time as being environmentally responsible. 

Paul Chefurka, World Energy and Population. 

Fracking is a relatively new concept in the UK and is considered a ‘quiet revolution’ as little is known about it within the public. This is why it is important to talk about it and raise awareness. The more people know about the process as well as the pros and cons the more likely they are to have a valid opinion so that the right decisions can be made for everyone. Therefore, in this blog I will analyse all impacts and advantages of fracking, discuss public opinion and compare natural gas reserves in different countries as well as different energy options.